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Analysis - BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner

Image copyrightReuters

It is only some small comfort that the man who hijacked Egyptair flight MS181 was bluffing. The bulging white "suicide belt" with wires sticking out turned out to be a fake.

It at least means that this time Egypt cannot be accused of letting someone smuggle explosives through airport security and on to an airliner as they did in October at Sharm El Sheikh airport, destroying a Russian passenger jet in mid-air.

But it still triggers a number of worrying questions about aviation security.

How was it that a passenger, described by the Cypriot authorities as "mentally unstable" was able to carry enough materials through Alexandria airport to resemble a bomb?

And what is to stop any future airline passenger, similarly unarmed, from pretending that he or she has a real device strapped to them?

For Egypt's battered tourism industry, which has yet to recover from the October airline bombing, this hijack is a further blow it can ill afford.

'Always a woman involved'

After a standoff lasting several hours, the hijacker walked down aircraft steps and surrendered to Cypriot security forces.

Shortly before that, several people were seen fleeing the aircraft, including one person, apparently a crew member, who climbed out of a cockpit window.

Other passengers had left the plane after appearing to have been released.

Earlier, Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades had responded to a reporter's question about whether the hijacker was motivated by romance, by laughing and saying: "Always there is a woman involved."

Image copyrightAFP/GettyImage captionA man believed to be the hijacker leaves the aircraftImage copyrightAFP/GettyImage captionCypriot security services were waiting for him

EgyptAir said the Airbus A320 was carrying 56 passengers from Alexandria to Cairo, along with six crew and a security official.

A statement from Egypt's civil aviation ministry said 26 foreign passengers were on board, including eight Americans, four Britons, four Dutch citizens, two Belgians, two Greeks, a French national, an Italian and a Syrian.